You can reskin any locomotive or item of rollingstock, as far as the Readme will allow you to. But first, you need the following programs:

TGATool2, as stated above,

Any paint program, ranging from MS Paint (for simple stuff such as mere renumbering), all the way up to PSP and Photoshop for the more complex, highly detailed stuff, if you were to fully reskin a loco.

Before you can start reskinning, you must configure TGATool2 first.

The first step is to tell TGATool2 where MakeAce is. MakeAce is a program supplied by MS with MSTS – you need this to export any files to .ace (the format of image used by the game). To do that, go to Prefs
Locate MakeAce

Then, browse to the UTILS sub-directory located within your MSTS installation. If you used the default installation path, it should be Crogram FilesMicrosoft GamesTrain SimulatorUTILSmakeace.exe.

After you’ve located MakeAce, you need to select your default image editing prog. If you wish to save all the *.ace files to *.tga and then load them up manually in your fave prog, this part isn’t needed. However, to keep things simple, now go to Prefs
Select Editing Program

As default, this has mspaint.exe in the filename box. You can change this to whatever program you use. For example, if you wish to use PSP, browse to Crogram FilesJasc Software IncPaint Shop Pro 7psp.exe (presuming you have version7 like I do – if you don’t, change the path to whatever is relevant to what you have). MSPaint.exe is located in C:WINDOWSsystem32mspaint.exe (if you are running WindowsXP. The location might be different for Win9x/Win2k etc).

After that, go to Prefs
Register ACE to TGATool2. This means that whenever you double click on a *.ace file, it automatically loads up in TGATool2.

After this, you are ready to start reskinning! I’ll leave you to figure out how to reskin, and to work out your own personal preferences, just like I have.

To start reskinning, load up the *.ace file in TGATool2, and go to Image
Send main image to editor.

This then loads up whatever program you have selected as your image editing prog, and then automatically loads up the texture inside it. Work away to your hearts content, occasionally saving by pressing CTRL+S, until you’ve finished. Note, you can view your work at any time during your reskinning by pressing CTRL+S in your editing prog and going Image
Reload Data. Once you’ve finished your reskin, you need to go CTRL+S in your editing prog, and then Image
Reload Data in TGATool2.

This then reloads the image in TGATool2, so you are ready to export the *.ace.

If the image has an alpha channel, you’ll need to select Export
Ace (Alpha) – Not DXT, and Export
Ace for non-alpha channelled textures. DXT is a form of compression.

Browse to where you wish to export it, and click export!

Note: Your firewall may or may not ask you to give makeace.exe permission to access the internet. Give it permission.

That should be all, if you have any further questions the post them below and I’ll try to answer them.

Contact Shacks

Ok, I presume you've taken an existing model and simply modified the textures via the method I detailed, correct?

If so, once you've exported your various textures, find them, and simply over-write the originals. Then, load the loco up in MSTS, or Shape Viewer (prolly easier, doesn't take as long to load up and is generally superior for quick viewing), and you should be presented with your re-skinned locomotive

Contact michaelgreenhill

Ok, fixed that & got it working. So lets say I wish to reskin B74, but wish to keep the original, do I copy the entire file but rename it ?
I take it I replace the Train Sim Image files. What else do I need to change ?

Contact michaelgreenhill

To make the required changes to the locomotive, whilst keeping the original, you need to make three changes:

Firstly, you need to rename the *.eng, *.s and *.sd files for the locomotive in question to whatever you feel is appropriate.

Secondly, you need to open the *.sd file in Wordpad (you can open it in Notepad in Win2k and up, but to keep it simple use Wordpad) and change the line starting with Shape ( to the name of your renamed *.s file - for example...

Contact michaelgreenhill

I have had a crack at reskinning 4803 (the one that came with Coal Road), renumbering it 4836.

I have changed 4803 to 4836 in the ENG file, the SD file and the names of all the files with 4803 in the title. I have created a consist with the new loco, but I get messages "Failed to open texture file Trainstrainset483648t2-4803.ace" when I try to use it. I have run it through conbuilder and it doesn't pick anything up.

Contact R 742

An easy shortcut to renaming eng and wag files in wordpad is
1 to open file to be edited.
2 Press conrol=h , a window will pop up asking you to input old name and new name.
3. Click on replace all.
Yoila, your file has been renamed completely.
Save as new name to new folder with same name in trainset folder.
Cheers